Badgers blow out No. 7 Michigan State

“There were opportunities for (Kammron),” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said.
“There were times when we needed a bucket or times when we needed something to
happen, and Kam is an opportunist, and he fed off of that.”

Alando Tucker added 17 points and six rebounds for the Badgers (12-2, 2-0 Big
Ten), who remained perfect with a 9-0 record at the Kohl Center this season.
Brian Butch also reached double figures with 12 points in the win.

Shannon Brown paced Michigan State (12-4, 0-2), which lost its second
consecutive game, with a game-high 31 points. Drew Neitzel chipped in 14 while
Maurice Ager struggled to tally 11 points on just 5-of-19 from the floor in
the loss.

The Badgers rode the hot shooting of Taylor to carry a 10-point advantage into
the break, 36-26. Taylor had 12 points as he hit on 5-of-10 from the field
while Brown had 13 for the Spartans.

Wisconsin really took control in the first three minutes of the second half. A
Butch trey capped a 13-0 burst to give the Badgers a 49-26 edge.

An acrobatic Ager reverse layup cut the Badgers advantage to 15, 62-47, with
just over eight minutes left in the contest and Michigan State continued to
press the issue. A long three by Neitzel drew the Spartans to within 13 with
seven minutes remaining.

Taylor, though, answered with a three-pointer of his own on the next
possession to keep the Spartans at arm’s length, 66-50.

Another long Neitzel three trimmed the gap to 13 once again, 69-56, with 3:30
left, but Wisconsin quickly restored order with four consecutive free throws,
a pair each from Joe Krabbenhoft and Jason Chappell, to extend the advantage
to 73-56 with just over three minutes left.

The Spartans never seriously threatened the rest of the way.

“(Kammron) made some big plays and got us some easy points,” Ryan said, “and
easy buckets are not the norm in the Big Ten.”

Game Notes

MSU still leads the all-time series 64-54 but Wisconsin is 39-22 against the
Spartans in Madison…Tucker has scored 20 points or more in seven games this
season. He’s scored 25 or more in six contests…Michigan State head coach Tom
Izzo is 13-10 against Wisconsin…The Badgers are 67-3 under head coach Bo
Ryan at the Kohl Center…Michigan State made just 34.9 percent of its shots
from the floor…Wisconsin was a haughty 10-of-21 from long range in the
game…Tucker was just 6-of-17 from the charity stripe.